Diane and Daniel Schuler hold their children, Bryan, left, and Erin, in an undated photo.

By Aman Ali and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon The (Westchester, N.Y.)Journal News

WESTCHESTER, N.Y.  Michael Bastardi Jr. has avoided a stretch of the Taconic State Parkway since a wrong-way crash there took the life of his father, brother and six others.

That ends today, when the Yonkers resident plans to visit the spot for the first time since a brutal crash ripped four families to tatters.

"I haven't been by there yet, but I intend to go by there for the anniversary," he said, his voice shaking. "It's always going to be the spot where my father and brother died."

The July 26, 2009, crash was one of the most violent and deadly in Westchester County history. At 12:58 p.m. that day, 8-year-old Emma Hance, the niece of driver Diane Schuler, called her mother and said, "There's something wrong with Aunt Diane," while her sisters cried in the background, police reports show.

At 1:30 p.m., numerous drivers reported a red minivan driving against traffic on the Taconic Parkway, where Schuler drove the wrong way for 1.7 miles. At 1:35 p.m., a flood of 911 calls reported a violent collision at milepost 4.2 on the parkway in Mount Pleasant.

The Sunday afternoon collision killed eight people, four of them children no older than 8.

"I'd been on the job 24 years when that happened, and it was without a doubt the most horrific thing I'd ever seen," New York State Police Investigator Joseph Becerra said.

In its aftermath, investigators said Diane Schuler, a West Babylon cable company executive, had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit. She had also smoked marijuana as recently as 15 minutes before the crash, when she collided head-on with oncoming traffic at 85 mph.

The Bastardi family awaits a response from the Schuler estate on a wrongful-death lawsuit. No criminal case ever emerged, Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore said.

All eight lives lost that day will be honored today with two separate church services.

The Hance family has launched the Hance Family Foundation, a charity in memory of their three girls.

The crash left many unanswered questions.

"Everyone wants to blame somebody," state police Senior Investigator Robert Bennett said. "There's nothing to hang our hat on with this other than that she was intoxicated. That's the only thing we do know."

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